Liveblog: Sharks dead; Bruins, Rangers, Devils on the brink

Fans in Boston and New York may have seen their last home games of the season.
The latest Jaro Halak impression was furnished by Craig Anderson, who stopped 41 shots in Ottawa’s 2-0 win at Madison Square Garden.

Saturday afternoon, with our old friend Benoit Pouliot in the penalty box for a brain-dead slash in a tie game, Troy Brouwer beat Tim Thomas with a shot that good goaltenders stop.
Washington heads home with a 3-2 series lead and can send the Cup champs to the golf course on Sunday. And Patrice Bergeron is questionable for Game 6.

Elsewhere, José Theodore shut out the Devils 3-0 to move Florida within one win of advancing to the Eastern Conference semi-final.

In St. Louis, the Blues roared back from a 1-0 deficit to beat San Jose 3-1 and advance in the playoffs for the first time since 2002.

The Sunday tripleheader begins at noon in Philadelphia, where Pittsburgh will try to even up its series with the Flyers.

At 3 p.m. in Washington, the Caps will try to eliminate the Stanley Cup champions.

Then at 8, the Canucks are at home trying to stay alive against L.A.

The only two teams to make the playoffs every year since the lockout are the Red Wings and Sharks.

586 Comments

The post whistle scrum is the most idiotic thing. If the refs would just go at the faceoff circle with the puck, itd fix itself, but no these scrums are enabled by the ‘oh god please dont fight’ linesmen.

[Disclaimer]: I’m a hockey fan. I care about the habs, but probably not as much as you.

As I believe the Sharks are going to blow up their team this offseason (as they are one of the most talented team to win jack-s###), what are your thoughts on maybe trading our draft for maybe Big-Joe or another power forward? Not going to lie, it would be cool to see big Joe in uniform when we go against Boston 🙂

Morning 1970. My vote is to pass. If the club was a player or two from cup contending then I’d do it. The team might be a player or two from making the playoffs but that is not Molsons goal. Lets get this built the right way.

Never loved the Caps (although I’m a Knuble fan), but I am waving the flag tonight. It’s so beautiful that the Bruins are complaining about the refs. The Bruins were good last year, had all the necessary ingredients to compete, but the refs/NHL/Campbell are what won them the Cup. What goes around…

Mike, had the fortune to attend a Caps game at the Verizon Center last year. Fans and that building were rabid and into it. Good hockeu fans. I could not agree with your post more. The Bruins have been a classless cup winner. I cant wait to see the lack of class they exhibit if they lose this series. Go Caps!

B’s complaining that the officials are against them. It takes some nerve.

“The Bruins aren’t a team that makes excuses, but the Bruins had a tough time holding their tongue after referees Tim Peel and Steve Kozari not only called that decisive late penalty but also didn’t call Capitals forward Jason Chimera for an elbow that left Zdeno Chara dazed at the end of the first period. They also didn’t blow the play dead when Joe Corvo was injured blocking a shot in the second, leading to Washington’s first goal. But the call they did make that led to Washington’s winner was the most upsetting to the Bruins. “Unfortunately, on the winning goal, it’s a very weak call in my mind, and it ended up costing us the winning goal,” Julien said.”

I just learned on reading Mike Boone’s live blog that Emile “Butch” Bouchard has died. I’ve been out of the loop, in hospital for a week with breathing problems, but I want to pay tribute to Butch. I saw him play at Maple Leaf Gardens during his last season, 1955-56. He was well past his prime, a bit slow, but still good enough to take a regular shift that night. I remember taking note of him and I have a mental picture of him on the ice, although it’s now almost 60 years ago.

I looked Butch up when I was a young fan. He had been named to the all-star team regularly during the 1940s until a serious injury permanently diminished his game. He was still a good player, just no longer a star. But he carried on, giving his upmost and becoming a model captain of the team he loved, the only one he played for in the NHL. It was so pleasing that he was honored with retirement of his No. 3 jersey before he died. It was obvious it meant a huge amount to the grand old man.

Bon voyage to dear Butch, who served his club, the best in hockey, superbly and who will always be remembered by those who value the club’s history. I send my condolences to Butch’s family and friends and I give a salute to Butch.

Let’s try to figure out a standard:
First offense:
Accidental hit to the head – 2 games
Accidental hit to the head resulting in a minor injury – 3 games
Accidental hit to the head resulting in a major injury – 4 games
Intentional hit to the head – 5 games
Intentional hit to the head resulting in minor injury – 7 games
Intentional hit to the head resulting in a major injury – 10 games
Accidental hit from behind – 1 game
Accidental hit from behind resulting in an injury – 3 games
Intentional hit from behind – 3 games
Intentional hit from behind resulting in an injury – 5 games
Accidental elbow to the head – 1 game
Accidental elbow to the head resulting in an injury – 3 games
Intentional hit to the head – 5 games
Intentional hit to the head resulting in an injury – 8 games

Second offense:
Accidental hit to the head – 3 games
Accidental hit to the head resulting in a minor injury – 5 games
Accidental hit to the head resulting in major injury – 7 games
Intentional hit to the head – 8 games
Intentional hit to the head resulting in a minor injury – 12 games
Intentional hit to the head resulting in a major injury – 16 games
Accidental hit from behind – 3 games
Accidental hit from behind resulting in an injury – 5 games
Intentional hit from behind – 6 games
Intentional hit from behind resulting in an injury – 10 games
Accidental elbow to the head – 5 games
Accidental elbow to the head resulting in an injury – 8 games
Intentional elbow to the head – 10 games
Intentional elbow to the head resulting in an injury – 15 games

3rd offense:
Accidental hit to the head (injury or no injury) – 10 games
Intentional hit to the head (Injury or no injury) – 25 games
Accidental hit from behind – 10 games
Intentional hit from behind – 25 games
Accidental elbow to the head – 10 games
Intentional elbow to the head – 25 games

4th+ offense:
Accidental hit to the head – 20 games
Intentional hit to the head – 41 games
Accidental hit from behind – 20 games
Intentional hit from behind – 41 games
Accidental elbow to the head – 20 games
Intentional elbow to the head – 41 games

I like where you start (10 games for intentional first offense causing injury), but after that I think you need to up the ante;
I would at least double it for a second offense – 20 games for intentional second offense causing injury, and double it again every time thereafter;
– 40 games for intentional third offense causing injury
– 1 year (82 games, plus playoffs, if applicable) for intentional fourth offense causing injury. 5th one? Two years plus playoffs, etc…

Just my opinion though…

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☞ Wow, that’s a nice lookin’ pair of Crocs!” Said no one ever.☜

One thing that should be remembered is that every case is unique and that the standard should just be the guide. If a guy is reckless and accidentally hits a guy in the head, I think that is different than if a guy is making a hit on a guy that is reaching for a puck and connects with the head. Discretion is required in every case.

Sure a little leeway is OK, but they need to get tough. Torres was a good start.
*Edit*
‘Been thinking about this one for a while, and I have come to the conclusion that ‘leeway’ is not good at all. Leeway is what got us into the mess we have now. Shanny has leeway, and uses it to let players off easy. Lots of hits lately have been worse than the Torres one, but little or nothing was done.

So I say screw leeway, and give mandatory suspensions for intentional head shots. It’s the only way that people will stop doing them. Sure, some will still happen, but they will be rare.
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☞ Wow, that’s a nice lookin’ pair of Crocs!” Said no one ever.☜

Wonder if St Louis fans have to listen to the endless parade of bickering about how terrible Elliot is and how he shouldn’t be starting, goes onto his knees too early, the other guy should be playing more, he had everything handed to him without earning everything etc etc etc. No reason, just curious.

Does anyone think that Shanahan does have some sort of standard set up that he has been following all year? A standard that covers intent, injury, history, and type of illegal action. And he just doesn’t want to let his system publicly known so that he is able to strengthen/lessen the penalty in case some unforseen variable takes place.

Doubt it, the NHL has made such a huge deal over having an NHL caliber arena in place not maybe or in a couple of years but in place!

I’m sure that the NHL would prefer sticking Peladeau for a new franchise fee rather than let him back door cheap! Different money altogether!

Phoenix was moving to Winnipeg in the minds of the media for 3 years and it never happened.

BTW if the players were “reluctant” about Winnipeg just think about the reluctance for Quebec City after they fire Dave Tippet and Don Maloney for not meeting the language requirements!

Not dismissing the issues of taxes, kids schooling and wives who can’t speak French whining daily.

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What does the Commissioner of the NHL do?

In short, a league commissioner is the action man for the Board of Governors.

They tell him what they want done and he works to make it happen through his subordinates while making sure that individual franchises play by the rules.

******** Translated if you haven’t won the Stanley Cup in 40 years your NHL team is becoming irrelevant in a sports mad city long behind MLB, NFL and NBA teams, you just tell the commissioner(who you gave a new contract at 7 plus million per) to make it happen and the rules are bent sufficiently to action the command.

Not to mention the inefficiency of any construction timetable in Quebec altogether. Considering strikes and added corruption?

When would the new arena be ready? Exactly? Realistically?

———————————————————————-
What does the Commissioner of the NHL do?

In short, a league commissioner is the action man for the Board of Governors.

They tell him what they want done and he works to make it happen through his subordinates while making sure that individual franchises play by the rules.

******** Translated if you haven’t won the Stanley Cup in 40 years your NHL team is becoming irrelevant in a sports mad city long behind MLB, NFL and NBA teams, you just tell the commissioner(who you gave a new contract at 7 plus million per) to make it happen and the rules are bent sufficiently to action the command.